PHILIPPINE Agri-Business Center Corp. (PABC),
a private farming firm, has asked the Sandiganbayan Fifth
Division to award in its favor two parcels of land in Busuanga,
Palawan being claimed by the government as part of the Marcos
ill-gotten wealth in a 20-year-old, P51-billion lawsuit.
The properties, (covered by TCTs 6110 and
6111) were included in Civil Case No. 0024 filed by the
Presidential Commission on Good Government on July 27, 1987
against Marcos, former First Lady Imelda Marcos, Peter A. Sabido,
Luis A. Yulo, Roberto Benedicto, Nicolas Dehesa, Jose R. Tengco
Jr., Rafael Sison, Cesar Zalamea and Don Ferry.
Government is seeking award of P50 billion in
damages and P1 billion in legal fees.
The Busuanga property used to be controlled
by the Yulo King Ranch (now YKR Corp), a grazing area covering
7,000 public lands on lease from the government and 120 hectares
acquired from private persons.
Without stating the exact area of land
involved in its claim, PABC argued that it is entitled to regain
possession of the properties because none of the private
defendants in Civil Case 0024 or even the PCGG has a valid
claim. The firm said YKR Corp and Yulo’s heirs only declared
that they could not "admit or deny" PABC’s claim of ownership
because PCGG took away all the corporate records of YKR Corp.
It also said that PCGG acknowledged that the
Busuanga properties were not covered by the sequestration order
it issued on April 2, 1986.
PABC said Presidential Decree Nos. 1387 only designated the
Busuanga stretch as a pasture reserve but made a proviso that
the land was still "subject to private rights, if any there be,"
and that PD 1297 simply placed 40,000 hectares of grazing land
in Busuanga under Yulo King Ranch management pursuant to a
technical assistance agreement with the government. –
Peter J. G. Tabingo
